How do I answer my auto shop's phone when everyone is in the bays?
By the Margin Media team · Updated
To answer an auto shop's phone when everyone is in the bays, give the phone one owner per shift, forward unanswered calls after a few rings to something that picks up, and call back within the hour. In a two or three person shop, that something is an answering service or an AI receptionist.
Why can't a small shop just pick up?
A small shop can't just pick up because the person nearest the phone is holding a wrench or a customer's keys. Stopping a job to answer costs time on the lift and gives the caller a rushed answer. Letting it ring costs the job. Neither is a plan.
What routine keeps the phone covered?
Set the routine once and write it on the wall by the counter. It works the same with whatever you choose to catch the calls nobody reaches.
- Name one person who owns the phone for each part of the day, including lunch.
- Set your phone line to forward calls that ring more than a few times to a backup.
- Choose the backup: a second staff phone, an answering service, or an AI receptionist.
- Write down what the backup should ask: name, number, vehicle, what it is doing, when they can bring it in.
- Return every message within the hour, oldest first, before the next car goes up on the lift.
- Call your own shop at a busy hour once a week to check what a customer hears.
Which backup suits which shop?
A second phone suits a shop where someone is free most of the time and the misses are rare. An answering service suits a shop that wants a person on the line and is content to call everyone back.
An AI receptionist suits a shop where the calls come in bunches or after hours, because it answers several at once and can put the car on the calendar instead of taking a message.
How does Margin set this up for an auto shop?
You keep your number. Mia, Margin's AI receptionist, gets her own line and your number forwards to it, always or only when nobody picks up. She takes the details, answers what you have told her she can, and books the car onto the portal calendar, and your office is told.
What she says about price is gone through on your audit, before anything is built. She does not guess whether a car is ready. Those callers go to your team as a list to call back, with the conversation attached. The portal shows every call and its transcript.
What Margin sets up for this.
- Mia, the AI receptionist, on every call
- Booking onto your calendar
- Your portal: every call, text and booking
- Missed calls texted back within a minute
What a business needs is decided on its audit. It is a one-time setup fee and a monthly fee, with exact numbers on the audit.
How Margin works for auto shopsSee the portal with a sample business
Related questions
How many rings before an auto shop's phone should forward?
Few enough that the caller is still there. Call your own auto shop and count how long you would wait before hanging up, then set the forwarding a ring or two short of that.
Can a one-person auto repair shop get by with voicemail?
A one-person auto repair shop with a full book and loyal regulars can. If you want new customers, voicemail is the weak point, because a stranger with a problem is free to call the next shop instead of leaving a message.
Do I need a new phone number to forward my auto shop's calls?
No. Call forwarding is a setting on the line an auto shop already has, and your phone provider can switch it on. The published number stays the same, so customers and your Google profile are not affected.